Creative Literacy & Library Love

Main menu

Tag Archives: fashion

Why be a hamster when you can be…a GLAMster! With the proper hat, accessories, and a stunning pair of sunglasses, become a hamster who is sure to get noticed.

We read Glamsters, written by Elizabeth Cody Kimmel and illustrated by Jackie Urbanovic (Disney-Hyperion, 2008). It’s the big annual sale at Hamster World, and Harriet the hamster is worried that she and her sister Patricia won’t get noticed. When Harriet spots a magazine article about “glamsters” lining the bottom of her cage, she thinks she’s found the solution. She transforms herself with “high gloss-and-glo fur volumizer,” a new hat, and funky whisker extensions. Yes, Harriet’s feeling pretty glamorous until Patricia wakes up from a nap, sees Harriet, and screams. Definitely NOT the reaction Harriet was expecting. Patricia helps Harriet get back to normal and, best of all, the two hamsters get noticed by a lovely new owner. Just by being themselves.

We’ll begin with the hamster. Wrap the outside of a large oatmeal container with brown construction paper. Cut the feet from a square of tagboard (or brown poster board). I cut little toes as well.

Hot glue the feet to the bottom of the oatmeal container. Next, cut the hamster’s bib from the template (the bib is the white “fur” that forms the hamster’s tummy, cheeks, and forehead). You can leave the sides of the bib just as they are in the template, or you can use scissors to cut ruffles in the sides to resemble fur.

Hot glue (or tape) the bib to the front of the oatmeal container. Arms are next! The arms are 2 tagboard rectangles that are rounded at each end.

Attach the arms to the body with hot glue (or tape). Hot glue on a pom-pom nose and a pair of wiggle eyes. Use markers to add a smile. Finally, use brown construction paper to make a pair of ears, and then hot glue (or tape) them on. You’ll notice that the ears are attached on the front of the container, above the eyes, and at a slight angle. This is so the hamster’s ears won’t interfere with the hat.

Your hamster is finished, now for some glamorous accessories! For the hat, I prepped a bunch of simple white origami hats. Start with a 9″ x 12″ sheet of construction paper:

Fold the paper in half downwards

Now fold the upper right-hand corner towards the middle of the paper like so:

Then repeat with the upper left-hand corner.

Fold one side of the bottom up

Then flip the hat over…

And fold the remaining side up at the bottom.

Flip the hat back over, open it at the bottom, and secure it with 2 staples.

The hat is ready, let the hamster makeover commence! I offered patterned paper, embossed foil paper, sparkle stems, craft-ties, heart stickers, small feathers, and dot stickers, as well as the Bling Bin. I also tested some glitter tape out on this project. I was dubious about its claim to not shed glitter, but it actually wasn’t too bad (see my issue with glitter in the FAQs).

Kids make hats, necklaces, belts, purses, ties, briefcases, etc. The final touch, however, was a pair of sunglasses. Color and cut a pair from the template, and perch them on your hamster’s pom-pom nose. Perfect dahling.

As you can imagine, we had some super glamorous hamsters at story time. I captured a few quick poses in my photo studio, and Katie whipped up some exclusive magazine covers…

Cinderella’s fairy godmother managed to do wonders with rags, rats, mice, lizards and a pumpkin. Local high school artist Vicky Gebert produced something just as miraculous with plastic bags, forks, chicken wire, bubble wrap, and drinking straws!

This dress is the centerpiece of a “Cinderella Story” program we’ll be hosting in April. A slew of young stylists (ages 3 – 10) will design and model their own dresses constructed of different materials. In addition to exhibiting her creation, Vicky will be on hand at the program to answer questions and lend her “fairy godmother” artistic talents. I’ll definitely post pictures in April. But I couldn’t resist a little sneak peek today…

We read The Hair Scare by Jeffrey Fisher (Bloomsbury Children’s Books, 2006). Radbert has a talent for cutting hair, and his styles are simply amazing. Soon, the king comes knocking, demanding the best haircut of all time. Radbert delivers, but it is NOT to the king’s liking. He royally decrees that there will be no more haircuts, triggering a slew of shaggy dos, unkempt tresses, and general hair sadness. The king once again seeks out Radbert. Once again he asks for a haircut. But when the haircut is revealed and the moment of truth arrives, the haircut takes matters into its own hands!

We prepped the 12″ x 18″ construction paper in advance by fringing it lengthwise to create long locks. We used “natural” hair colors: black, brown, red and yellow. For more daring dos, I stocked up on smaller sheets of construction paper in multiple colors.

In addition to the construction paper, I offered craft ties, sparkle stems, ribbons, and star stickers to add flair. The craft ties worked especially well as barrettes and headbands. I also brought out the Bling Bin for extra touches.

To make your hair more wig-like, I would recommend cutting the brim off your plastic hat. This does, however, make it more wobbly. If the wobble is going to be a problem, leave the brim on (or wait until the very end to cut it off).

Before we got started the project, I gave the kids four quick “style” tutorials. Namely, the hair poof, the mohawk, the crimp & curl, and the crown.

1) THE HAIR POOF

Fringe a length of construction paper, and tape it to the front of the hat.

Bunch the ends together at the top…

Then tape it on the top of the hat.

Your hair poof is complete!

2) THE MOHAWK

Fringe two pieces of construction paper (I used contrasting colors to make it easier to see in the example).

Tab the bottom of each fringe, then tape the tab to the top of the hat. The tab of both fringes should be pointing outward, causing the fringes to lean in and support each other.

Finish by crimping the hair!

3) THE CRIMP & CURL

To add body and texture, employ the crimp & curl! Basically, this involves folding or curling the fringe strands. An accordion fold (i.e. folding the paper back and forth in squares) produces a nice crimp. Curls are produced by wrapping the fringe around a marker or pencil. Markers create long curls, pencils create tight curls.

4) THE CROWN

Since there was a king in the book, I offered a construction paper crown option with large gemstones available through the magic of hot glue. Attach optional mustaches, beards, and goatees to face with foam mounting tape.

After the tutorials concluded, the kids took off running…or styling really. Check out some of these amazing dos!

The sleek “Band with Bows”

The “Side Spider Surprise”

The “Absolutely Adorable Duo”

The “Crimped and Casual” (very popular with shark and dragon wranglers this year).